​"Christian" Artist?

GinnyWhenever I attend art events, people often ask me this question, "Are you an artist or a dancer?" I mention to them during our conversation that I am also the dance department head of a Christian Arts Association. Most people will ask me another question, "Are you a Christian artist?" So what is the difference between an artist and a Christian artist? I want to explain this in a broad contemporary way, "The artistic works of Christian artists express their understanding of God and praise to Him and is their way to convey God's message."Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" depicted the life given to Adam as the first man God created in the book of Genesis. His later work, another masterpiece, "The Last Judgment", illustrated the second coming of Christ and God's judgment of all mankind. His painting portrayed the human souls ascending and descending. However, "The Last Judgment" was controversial because the illustration in the painting was not the same as described in the Book of Revelation. After he died, some changes were made but his original was mostly retained. The powerful sense of the judgment is still stunning. Therefore, during the creative process, artists express their feelings, imagination and creativity to narrate and interpret their understanding of God. Another famous painting is Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" which depicted the last supper Jesus had with his disciples the night before He was betrayed from John 13:21-26. When Jesus told the disciples about his forthcoming betrayal, Judas' facial expression was different from the others in the painting. These details were not recorded in Scripture. When the artist uses his brush to sketch a biblical story, it is impossible not to input his own interpretation. Art has various forms; painting, music, singing, dancing, poetry, film, theater, etc. If it can deliver a message, lead people to God without twisting the Bible's meaning, art can cut through people's hearts and be impactful. This is God's way to use artists to demonstrate His creation, redemption, righteousness, and judgment. We should not be so critical into the details, if those details do not contradict Scripture. Perhaps we should look at Christian arts from a different angle. There are different versions of the English and Chinese bibles. The two popular versions are the Chinese Union Version and the Chinese New Version. When we teach Sunday School, we often notice there are different Chinese translations; some are minor, and some have opposing meaning. This reflects the translators’ personal opinions on their interpretation of the Scripture. We believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. However, with translators and copiers, human errors are unavoidable. But the original language God spoke in is inspired. Human errors cannot discount the inerrancy of the Bible. As long as we preserve the truth, not glorify men, not become extremist and cultic, I believe God is pleased with our praise and proclamation of Him. There is no formula to what tool or media we can use to do pre-evangelistic or evangelistic work. Our creator is the source of all creativity; He gives artists gifts to glorify Him. A while ago we had a worship team retreat; during our discussion and exchange, two sisters shared about how much worship songs touched and moved them; songs always drew them closer to God. Besides singing to praise Him, Psalm 150 mentions that we should praise Him with timbrel and dancing. In the Old Testament, there are multiple instances that mention praising in dance for His great work. One familiar incident is in Exodus 15:19-21; prophetess Miriam led the women dancing with timbrels when Pharaoh's army was drowned in the Red Sea. King David in 2 Samuel 6:14, wearing a linen ephod, was dancing before the Lord with all his might. He was so overjoyed that the Ark was brought to Jerusalem that he started to dance. In Luke 15:22-27, after the prodigal son returned home, everyone celebrated and danced for the lost son's return. However in Mark 6:20-28, the daughter of Herodias danced in Herod’s birthday banquet, and her dance caused the beheading of John. Both dances happened in celebration banquets, one ended in happiness and the other ended in tragedy. Dance is neutral, other art forms are likely neutral too. It can be used to glorify, praise and give thanks, which draws people closer to God and encourages a God-fearing heart. But it can also be used by the devil to manipulate people to rebel or to fall apart. The early church was originally mostly Jewish. They incorporated dance as a part of celebration of Jesus being the Messiah. The dance is called "Messianic Dance" with men, women and children gathering in a circle and dancing, particularly during 3 major festivals (Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot). After the Gentiles converted, they joined the Jewish Christians to praise God in dancing. Messianic Dance has steps and some routines. I believe King David’s dance before God was prompted from his heart and he danced spontaneously (improvisational worship dance). He was dancing with his 'spirit', worshiping Him in spirit and truth, and he used his body movement (dance) to worship Him. Whether Miriam was improvising or choreographing, Scripture gives no clue. This is not so important; the important thing is to worship Him with all our hearts and souls, including dancing.Today the majority of artworks have their own notions: politics, morals, society culture, aestheticism, and sarcasm on current affairs, or pure entertainment. Behind these artworks are the beliefs of the artists, some may be obvious while some may be obscure. Artists use their artworks as their tools to convey their messages. For a Christian artist, people naturally assume the song you sing, the skit you act, the movement you dance, the painting you paint, the poem you write, the film you make must be related to God, Christ and Scripture. However, we are not deliberately inserting God, Christ and Scripture in our works. People who make art have lots of inspiration; when their beliefs are in their daily lives, their lives are their beliefs. These two are correlated and their works naturally reflect the influence of God, Christ and Scripture. Artists communicate the message of God.Communicators need to have good communication skills: script writing requires a skilled writer, singing requires a skilled singer, and painting requires a skilled painter. Exodus 31:1-6, ".... and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills ...” 1 Chronicles 25:7, "Along with their relatives— all of them trained and skilled in music for the LORD..." In other words, this is a group of proficient ministers in arts. Art is only a tool to convey God's message, we should not ignore people's needs: using art to touch their heart, to loosen soil and to plant seeds, to direct people to seek and accept the truth. Staged evangelistic programs are the same; it should not be done as a lecture, we must be sensitive to understand people's obstacles and struggles. If someone is stirred by a drama scene, a hymn, a painting, their hearts are open; God will accomplish His work on them. Artists are God's clay, the work of His hand. He is the potter. When our art works are impactful, they can move people's hearts and lead them to Christ. "Christian" artists understand they are just the work of God's hand, and would humbly say amen to the prayer in Psalm 90:17, "May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands."

Serving at GCCC​

RanThese past few months, I've had the privilege of serving in greater capacities at GCCC, and I have the adult leaders here to thank for the opportunities. I believe I am discovering more of my personal capacity to lead, organize, and learn about the roles and functions behind serving at church. My most recent experiences involved being an MC for a youth group held fall festival late last October. Transitioning into this year, I have served as presider for two different Sunday English services and again as an MC for the recent Chinese New Year. In all the events I mentioned, there were actually none that I spent a significant length of time talking. I am not the kind of person that talks much on a regular basis, and during all my times presiding, I never felt pressured to speak more than I was comfortable with. This is the main reason I was never uncomfortable with taking lead and directing others; I never felt like things were out of my control.On the flip side, I've had feelings where I could have done more - whether it was to be a little more entertaining, more informative, or more involved. There were times when I thought that other people I was serving alongside with did a better job at making people laugh, keeping them interested, or getting them involved. Did this feeling ever turn into jealousy? I'd say no. After observing others before me that have served in a church, I noticed that there was almost never a case where someone got recognized more than another. Rather, the congregations seemed equally grateful to all of them, however small or expansive their role or involvement was. That's the kind of attitude I wanted to have towards people that might overshadow me in certain areas of ministry. Knowing full well that my ability to lead and motivate may come second to someone else's, I sought to humble myself in the serving process and acknowledge that I have many areas I can improve on. There is still one more factor that keeps me from second guessing or indulging myself as I continue to contribute to the church. I believed both before and now that the heart of ministry is to follow the role God intended for you to follow, and to contribute in accordance with your talents and gifts. That thought alone is enough to quell any sense of insecurity I have behind my incapability, any pride I build behind my contributions, and any envy I have of others' abilities--and will be enough to sustain me for any continued services I will do at this church in the future.

Update of my trip to Togo Africa

Dear Friends and Family,Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for me during my trip to Africa! I apologize for such a delay in my update. We all returned safely to the States without any trouble. On the way there, we only lost 1 piece of luggage which was later found and retrieved.The trip was an incredible experience that I will never forget. We had the opportunity to see many things we might not otherwise be able to see in the States. We rotated through the nurses station in the hospital, the operating room, the pharmacy, the clinic, and the obstetrics ward. It was humbling to see the many things we take for granted not just in our daily lives, but especially in the hospital. For example, they have paper charts for documenting patient information as opposed to computers, which we are used to in America.One of the key aspects of the trip that stood out to me was being able to see how much each patient’s family was involved in their care because they are such a family-oriented culture. If the patient acquires a large medical bill that they are not able to pay on their own, they will go to their family (parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, etc.) and they will somehow find a way to pay their bill. On the other side of being a family-oriented culture, if a family member passes away, there is much grieving and wailing, even on the floors of the hospital at times.Another aspect of the trip that stood out to me was seeing the long line of people from different cultures, tribal languages, and religions lining up on the benches outside the clinic and hospital with wounds, in wheelchairs, on crutches or mats, or with other illnesses waiting to receive care. It caused me to think of what it might’ve been like for Jesus when people would travel days just to receive healing from Him. It gave me chills just thinking of it and humbled me to think that we were actually able to help care for these patients! That is one of the main reasons I decided to become a nurse: to be able to see someone in need of medical help and be able to help them as well as share the love of Jesus with them.The final thing I would like to share is this: before going to Togo, I thought that God would maybe call me back there or somewhere in Africa since it is unfamiliar and foreign to me. I had the wrong mentality that God always wants us to be uncomfortable in order to learn to trust Him. I thought I would end up falling in love with and develop a heart for the Togolese people and African culture. However, I did not have this feeling and instead realized how much I love Asia and the people there. I would love to go back there to serve later down the road. One of the short-term missionaries in Togo caused me to reevaluate my thinking towards long-term missions by telling me that God can sometimes use where He has given us a heart and desire to serve as a means to better reach His people. As a result, contrary to my initial thoughts and expectations, I believe God could be calling me to the place where I thought I could not go back since I already know the language and culture.There are many more stories I would love to share, but for sake of time, I will stop here. If you are interested in hearing more about the trip, let me know!“Therefore God exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” –Philippians 2:9-11Thank you again for your support and prayers.God bless,Joelle Schreiber

Religions in the News and in History

Philip WongReligion is often in the News, often bad news, such as terrorism and persecutions. Some say that a lot of bad things in history were done because of religion, especially the religious wars."What causes fights and quarrels among you?" This was the question in James 4:1. James was a leader in the early church. He wrote to the Jewish Christians scattered among nations. They were facing many trials (1:1-2) and temptations (1:13). They even harbored "bitter envy and selfish ambition... boast ... deny the truth." (3:14). "Such wisdom doesn't come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice." (3:15-16)There can be conflicts between different religions and even among different sects of a religion. In Northern Ireland there were years of conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants. But Atheistic communists could also kill a lot of people in other sects. The Nazis also killed a lot of people in the name of religion. Even Buddhists attacked Muslims and Muslims killed Christians. All these are wrong extremist beliefs. Therefore right beliefs are extremely important, so are right mindsets.James 3:17-18, "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness."James was the younger brother of Jesus. He heard what Jesus said and observed what Jesus did and then became a leader in the early church after Jesus died and rose again. Jesus did not fight for his own cause but died to bring us peace with God and others and He taught us to be peacemakers.Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called children of God.(Matthew 5:9).